


The Kids Aren't Alright

by Booklover628



Series: Vices & Virtues [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Abusive Parents, All shapeshifters are genderfluid, Carlos de Vil is adorable, Cruella gets put in her place, Don't tell anyone but some villains do have hearts, Everyone from the Isle is bad at feelings, F/F, F/M, Gen, I am ignoring canon from the Jungle Book, M/M, Misunderstanding, Multi, Other, Percy is genderfluid, Pining, Polyamorous Character, Seriously Villains make bad parents, Shere Khan is a shapeshifter, Shere Khan is genderfluid, The Isle does not believe in monogamy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-08-19 11:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Booklover628/pseuds/Booklover628
Summary: Persephone Khan has been taught two things by her mother: emotions are for the weak and anything that is related to her father is off limits. Shere Khan is cold at best and brutal at worst, sending their only child running as soon as she could. Percy just wants to establish herself as the most wicked person on the Isle and maybe get one up on her malicious half-sister.Lucretia Finklestein was created to be the newest version of Sally, but all Dr. Finklestein sees is a disappointment. She just wants to find a place where she belongs, and her newfound friends are starting to do that. But when she gets a letter from Sally asking to adopt her, she might have found her chance to live a better life at the expense of abandoning her friends.When Mal, Jay, Carlos, and Evie are invited to Auradon, Percy feels slighted at being left out. Then, at the last minute, Lucy is invited too and Percy starts spiraling. Life will never be the same for the VKs.Will Lucy find a family with Sally without losing her best friend? Is Percy going to turn to revenge or will she join her friends on their path of good?*OC-centric*





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story was created from a random conversation with my cousin after Descendants 3 was released. I will be taking mostly from movie canon and ignoring the existence of some characters from the book series. This will be OC centric and there will be Mal bashing so if you don't like, don't read.

Four Years After Banishment:

Hades was widely considered to be the most powerful villain on the Isle, much to others dismay, his status as a god guaranteed such a position. It, therefore, stood to reason that he would only settle for the most powerful consort. Many people thought that would be Maleficent, this was true, but she was not the only one or even the first one. Hades had been intrigued by the cunning and wit of Shere Khan, regarded by many to be just a pernicious tiger, but to the more knowledgeable they were known to be a shapeshifter, condemned by their own people and left plotting their revenge even to this very day.

Shere Khan had proved themself to be a worthy opponent for Hades' own devious mind. The barrier that surrounded the Isle blocked out all magic, including shapeshifting magic, which had left Shere Khan stuck in one form, a female one. Their gender still fluctuated, but for once their body did not change with it.

What Hades and Shere Khan had was not quite love, which wasn’t tolerated on the Isle, rather it was a deep-rooted companionship that had some level of trust. This trust had led to a lapse of judgment resulting in Shere Khan’s pregnancy. The duplicitous couple was expecting their little bundle of evil soon. This did not mean that the couple was exclusive, both of them saw other people.

Monogamy was unheard of on the Isle. It was for this reason that Maleficent had just given birth to a daughter, Hades daughter. Maleficent had made Hades an offer too bad to refuse; she would give him passage off the Isle if she found a way off, in exchange for him providing her with a child to raise and mold. He had of course readily agreed, a child was a small thing to give when he could be granted freedom. Four years without his powers had been stifling enough.

The only problem was that now, he was holding his daughter, his Mal, and he wanted to be there for her, but he couldn’t be. That was part of the agreement.

“I will give you passage off the Isle should I find it, in exchange for you providing me with a child to raise as my own and to mold to my evil ways, with no influence except my own. You will not be involved in the child’s life.” It had been an easy agreement to make at the time, now he wanted to rescind it; however, he was the god of the underworld, which made him honor-bound to his word, despite the fact that he would love nothing more than to break it. He had to keep all of his deals, it was a special form of godly punishment, sort of like a balance to their great power.

So, Hades slunk off to his home deep in the Isle, knowing that as long as Maleficent kept her word, he had to keep his.

He arrived home to a heavily pregnant Shere Khan. Their pregnancy had made them unpleasant enough to not care about the effect of their words and therefore made the normally well-held tongue loose.

“How is the Queen of the Isle and her little brat?” They purred. The hellfire blazing in Hades eyes was all the answer that they needed.

“It is such a shame that no one but her will ever know who her father is, although who knows, maybe Maleficent will become bored enough one day that she brings a man and lets him help take care of the little urchin. Luckily, our Persephone will never have her parentage questioned since everyone knows of our connection.” The words were meant to hurt, for what purpose Hades was currently unsure. All he knew was that his infamous temper was flaring up, quite literally.

“Shut up, just keep your infernal trap shut you insufferable, mangy cat,” He snarled, and for one wonderful moment, he felt his hair spark back to life. Then, the blaze covered his entire body and was spreading to everything around him. The house was beginning to catch fire, and Shere Khan was staring at him with horror-filled eyes. The tiger had never gotten over their fear of fire.

He couldn’t even be happy to have his powers back because he had just endangered his unborn child. He tried to reach out to Shere Khan to get them out of the house before it burned because their fear had petrified them, but they stumbled away.

“Don’t touch me. You stay away, far away, congratulations, in one day you have lost both of your children because I swear that I will never let you see hide nor hair of my daughter.” The words were final, an oath that he would be forced to keep. In one day, he had gone from having two children to none.

If you asked him later how either of them had made it out of the house he wouldn’t be sure. Hours later, he was still sat outside of the smoldering remains of what had once been his home. His power had died back down, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring it back.

Hades had only one place to go, back to the dismal home he had created at the bottom of the mines. Everyone had been far too afraid of his wrath to encroach on the territory. In the night, he crawled back to the only place he had left, and settled down, prepared to stay here until the end of time. He had lost everything in one fell swoop, his mother had always warned him that even someone made of flames could be burned (by the cold). All of his schemes now felt meaningless and life had lost its luster so he decided to take a little nap and reevaluate things when he woke up…


	2. Not Quite Friends

Seven Years Later:

Now many people regard a party and a lost invitation, as a crucial starting point of the story to the next generation of villains, but most people are not Percy Khan. Percy wasn’t concerned with Mal’s hurt feelings or Evie’s unfair exile, such power struggles were beneath her. At six and a half, she was generally considered the best schemer of her class, although, such a compliment would never be voiced.

After all, she lived with a literal tiger mother who wouldn’t let her out of their sight, let alone to school, yet she had found a way to attend every day for the past six months without being caught. Most children on the Isle didn’t consider perfect attendance to be very evil, but seeing as it was a form of rebellion for her, Percy was the exception.

The only person she had spoken to at school was Mal who had threatened the other children into staying away from her. Mal was thought to be the scariest in their grade, but Percy knew that as soon as her plot came to fruition that title would be awarded to her. She would make her half-sister pay for her mistreatment.

Mal had always been a petty and jealous creature so after learning that she had a sister who could proudly acknowledge her father where she could not, the girl became consumed with plots of revenge. Many of them including having the girl snubbed. The fairy ruled her grade with an iron (ironic considering her allergy) fist so it was no surprise that everyone complied.

It was six months into the school year when everything changed. Percy slunk through the doors to the school with the grace of a cat. She was content to walk quietly to her class, scheming of how to bring about Mal’s downfall.

Her ears perked up to attention, catching the sounds of skin hitting skin and groans of pain. Sounds like someone is getting a beating, I wonder who wronged someone this time? She thought to herself, a wickedly evil smirk covering her angelic face.

People were always getting on someone’s bad side and then getting a beating at school. The teachers didn’t really care, seeing as half of what they were taught was learning to get revenge whenever they wanted, but if you were caught you did get punished. They were being raised to be the next generation of villains: smarter, meaner, quicker, and more spiteful. It meant that they had to know how to get their vengeance without leaving a trace that could lead back to them, obviously, those who failed had to learn from such mistakes. They would never be able to bring Auradon to its knees if they kept making silly mistakes.

Percy had often heard the phrase, curiosity killed the cat, but that didn’t stop her from investigating anything that gained her attention so she followed after the noises. What she found was not what she expected.

Three teenagers were kicking at a kid around her age. She could just barely make out his black and white hair through the flurry of pummeling limbs. Normally, she would leave them to it, but something about seeing a child being beaten by a bunch of teenagers got to her. She recognized the boy from his hair, he sat in front of her in class. He was smart but small and meek so everyone took advantage of him. That was how it always worked no matter where you were, the strong took advantage of the weak, it was just the way that the food chain was structured.

Something about the boy, Carlos de Vil, was calling to her though. She had a feeling that he would be important to her future plans so she made a few calculations and then acted. If anyone asked, she was telling them that she wanted a genius indebted to her so that she could have an inventor as her underling. She would never admit that she actually cared or that he was going to become her first friend.

“The next person that touches what is mine will have their throat ripped out with my teeth. I haven’t had fresh meat in a while, and I’m sure that man-cub tastes far better than squirrel,” the words were spoken in her most elegant purr, a voice that her mother had taught her to perform purrfectly.

The boys looked down at her laughing, at least until they took in her appearance. The blue hair that faded into orange and the smile that barred sharply fanged canines. Their laughter faded quickly and their faces turned a most unflattering shade of white. Clearly, they recognized her. She was the daughter of two of the most fearsome villains on the Isle, and she had made quite a name for herself after she had torn into the eldest Gaston son for suggesting that her pelt would make a fine prize one day. Even the older years had learned to avoid her. It was no surprise, then, that the three boys ran away without glancing back after she issued her threat.

She turned to the boy she had just claimed as hers. He was gazing at her with a glazed over look in his eyes. Percy wondered how hard he must have been hit in the head. She would investigate in a second, she needed to make a good first impression.

“Hello, I’m Percy Khan. I believe that you’re a member of my crew now,” she made sure to enunciate clearly, mother always told her that it was important to come across as well-spoken. She needed to make sure she made a competent leader. Perhaps if she did well enough with Carlos, more people would want to join her crew.

“You shouldn’t have done that. Now they’re going to come after you,” he turned pink after he spoke, as if he realized that his words sounded like he was looking out for someone else, a big no-no on the Isle unless you were a part of a crew, but even then you looked out for number one. “Not that I care or anything.”

“I’d like to see them try.” It would be truly amusing, Shere Khan had ensured that she could take care of herself by forcing her to hunt for her own food alone.

“I can’t be a member of your crew, Mal said that no one is allowed to talk to you or she’ll ruin them,” Carlos confided. Percy sniffed delicately at that, she would like to see Mal try to ruin Carlos now. He was hers, and she was possessive of her things.

“It is polite to respond with your name when someone introduces themselves,” she reminded him tersely.

“Right, I’m Carlos, Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella de Vil.” Percy smiled like the cat that got the canary. That was more like it, it wouldn’t do for her only crew member to not speak with her.

“Well, Carlos de Vil, you’re mine now so nothing Mal has ever told you matters now because she has to go through me to get to you.” Carlos smiled a genuine smile at her words. Had he missed the part where she claimed him as hers? She seemed to have her work cut out for her if he didn’t see the bad in what she had just said. Or Mal was worse than she thought if he was this happy at having her protection.

Oh well, she had plenty of time to figure out what he was all about.

“Let’s go, Carlos, class starts soon, and I want to get a good seat.” She grabbed his hand and started dragging him to class, giving him a moment to collect his things from the ground first. He seemed to be fine after the beating and was handling the pain well, which was surprising and worrying. She would have to look into her new ‘friends’ home life, most villains weren’t the best parents, but they normally were emotionally or verbally abusive not physically; however, Cruella did have a few screws loose, and Percy often heard her yelling from her house in the woods just behind the de Vil home. She wouldn’t put it past the woman.

Percy determined that she would check over Carlos after school, there was no way that she was letting anyone see her caring for someone else in public.

The two arrived in the classroom right before it began. They were not the last to make it, seeing as numerous people that it was awfully evil to be late. Percy thought it was lame to mess with your education just to seem cooler, after all, she already knew she was the wickedest of them all. She assumed they would eventually grow out of such immature evil doing.

Mal had already arrived, eager to make Percy’s life hell. She used to be arriving late school of thought, but now that she had the chance to ruin Percy’s life every day, Mal had started arriving early.

The second she walked in hand-in-hand with Carlos, everyone had started whispering to each other. Mal’s wicked smirk had dropped off her face and turned into a frown. Mad Maddy and Uma, Mal’s gang, followed her eye line to the two little villains. Mad Maddy crossed her arms and glanced at Mal before copying the girl’s expression. The girl was basically Mal’s twin, they had the same purple hair and green eyes. Mad Maddy did whatever Mal wanted her to, and she was always copying the malicious fairy. Percy didn’t think that she had ever had an original thought.

Uma flipped her long, teal hair over her shoulder and looked Percy up and down. She gave her a nod of respect, and then went back to looking around the room to find the new weakest link now that Carlos was protected. Uma had wanted to invite Percy into their group of terrifying girls, but Mal had vetoed the idea and Uma had been smart enough not to fight it.

Percy pulled Carlos to her normal seat and pushed him into the empty seat next to her. Mal looked like she was about to come over and threaten her, but before she could the teacher entered.

Kaa, the serpent from the Jungle Book, taught the kindergarteners’ Evil 101. The class only lasted half the day and then they were free to explore the Isle. Kaa hadn’t tried to eat children since he was sent to the Isle so parents didn’t have to worry about that, if villains worried about their kids at all. Something about being put into human form had destroyed his appetite for man-cub. His appearance still resembled that of a snake with yellow slitted eyes and a greenish tint to his skin. His neck had the faintest outline of scales and his hair was thin and straw-like.

Kaa wasn’t the most intimidating of villains, but his not quite human appearance was known to off-put his students, making his job all the easier. Being the daughter of Shere Khan meant that the class was a breeze for her because Kaa would never presume to give her orders or dock points  
.  
“Well, children today we will be learning about the important parts of a sssscheme.” Percy barely held back a yawn, she had been listening to lectures about scheming since before she could talk. In fact, Percy’s first word was scheme; Shere Khan had a tendency to monologue.

Percy could feel the weight of a glare burning into the side of her head. She turned and saw Mal staring intently at her, if looks could kill, she would be six feet under. Not one to be easily intimidated, Percy glared back at her. Mal’s eyes glowed green with dragon fire while Percy’s glowed blue with hellfire. The rest of the class passed by in this manner with dirty looks being shared between the two sisters.

“I will see all of you tomorrow, remember to be as evil as possible,” Kaa said releasing them from his class. While he had lost his hypnotic gaze, he still had the ability to captivate a group of children.

His dismissal brought the staring contest to an end, both girls looked away at the same time, neither was willing to be the one look away first. Most of the class disappeared quickly, knowing that Mal wanted to be alone for her confrontation.

Mal approached Percy’s seat, Uma and Mad Maddy flanking her from behind. Carlos made a small whimpering sound.

“I thought I told everyone to leave her alone,” Mal spoke with a feigned kindness to her words.

“Carlos is a part of my crew now so he doesn’t listen to your rules anymore. You can be upset, but we’re not going to cower in front of you.” Percy didn’t bother to see how Mal reacted to her words. She got up pushing Carlos in front of her and away from the other girls. They left without looking back, but they could both hear Mal’s shriek of annoyance.

Percy had plans for Mal, they were just taking a little while to come together purrfectly. She would make sure the girl was properly humiliated and friendless just like she had tried to make Percy.

^^^^

Percy had dragged Carlos out of Dragon Hall without any complaints from the boy, at least until she had suggested that they go scheme together at his house.

“There are much better places to plot and scheme than my house. I’m sure that your house is even better.” She couldn’t tell him that if Shere Khan came home and smelled someone else in the house, then Percy would get a nice beating for breaking the rules, followed by being put in the cage. She would just have to work out a good way to convince her mother to allow a guest.

“Well, I’m the leader and I said that we were going to scheme at your house so that’s where we are going,” Percy responded, her tone leaving no room for any argument. Carlos deflated but nodded his acceptance and the two began their journey to his home.

Percy had a feeling she knew exactly why Carlos didn’t want her at his house, and if her suspicions were correct, then she would find a way to protect him. Percy was possessive of her things and she didn’t like people mistreating them.

^^^^

Carlos was panicking. He tried to keep his head down at school. He wasn’t big or tough or scary like most of his classmates, but he was smart and he always stayed on their good side. That didn’t stop the occasional bully from trying to hit him, though. He learned to take it from his mother, and most of the boys and girls at school were nowhere near as terrifying as her.

All of his work to stay out of trouble had been destroyed. He managed to gain the attention of Percy Khan, daughter of Hades and Shere Khan. One of the scariest girls in his class and the archenemy of Mal, the other scariest girl in his class. Now he had been drawn into their conflict, and he was being forced to take her to his house. If his mother knew that he let another person near her furs, he would be dead. Why couldn’t the demigod have just left him alone? He enjoyed the idea of her protecting him from Mal and her posse, but he had a feeling that she had just made everything much worse for him, instead. Still, she seemed to like him and he had a feeling that the two of them were going to be spending a lot of time together now so he might as well try to learn more about her.

“What did you want to scheme about?” That sounded like good territory, most villains on the Isle loved to rant about their evil schemes.

“I’ve been plotting for months to get Mal back, and now that you’re a part of my crew, I’m going to let you in on my plan.” She was ambitious, Carlos had to give her that. No one got Mal back, she was the daughter of the Mistress of all Evil. Then again, Percy was half god so there perhaps she outmatched Mal.

Carlos couldn’t really think of many other questions to ask, which was a first for him. He was quite the inquisitive child. They traveled all the way to Hell House in silence. When they got there, Cruella was still gone—she had left for the spa for the week—so they had the house to themselves.

Percy grinned at Carlos, and he got a good look at those sharp canines that had taken a chunk out of a Gaston son.

“Now shall we begin,” Percy asked before launching into her elaborate scheme. The level of planning sounded crazy, but Carlos had a feeling that they just might be able to pull it off. He sat there for hours with her, ironing out the kinks in her plan. Neither of them realized that in that one afternoon, they became the closest thing to friends the other had ever had.


	3. Percy's Revenge and the Rise of Shrimpy

Three Months Later:

Percy spent the past three months carefully plotting Mal’s downfall with Carlos. The two of them got along swimmingly, although, her suspicions about Cruella had proven to be right. The woman seemed to delight in causing her son pain, at least until Percy had put the fear of herself in Cruella. It had taken weeks of intimidation tactics, but the insane woman had finally learned she meant business. All it had taken was chipping her car’s paint job, replacing her shampoo with pink dye, taking a bite out of her leg, and finally taking a fur hostage to make her see reason. Then, Cruella had been all too happy to leave the two seven-year-olds— Percy had just had her birthday—alone.

Percy could feel her whole body tingling from anticipation. She would be getting her revenge on Mal for slighting her. Finally, after nine months of plotting and planning, it was going to happen. Everything was supposed to go down the previous month, but Shere Khan had discovered their child was attending school, and it had not gone over well.

^^^^

“Percy, my child, I’m home,” Shere Khan called out as they entered the dilapidated building that they called home. Percy was in the living room, practicing her saunter, she wanted to get it just right so that it looked effortless despite the hours she had spent perfecting it.

“You were right, Zira had been snubbing me from plotting club. I don’t know how you do it, but your information is always accurate, my dear.” The villain walked into their living room, a proud smirk encroaching on their face. Shere Khan was always proud when Percy did something wonderfully bad unless she did something like her father.

Percy wasn’t sure why it was punishable to remind her mother of her father, it was not something to question it just was. Still, when Percy reminded Shere Khan of Hades, she was beaten until she couldn’t see straight and then put in the cage without food to drive the lesson home. The same happened when she showed any emotion. Shere Khan was a big fan of emotional control, which Percy severely lacked, a gift from her father.

Percy knew that she had made a mistake, when Shere Khan suddenly froze where they stood, and took a deep breath. She had forgotten to wash the scents from school off her before mother got home.

“Someone has been breaking the rules, naughty, naughty,” Shere Khan said before lunging at the small girl.

^^^^

A month later, Percy had convinced Shere Khan of the importance of attending school. Explaining that she had found her first minion (Carlos) and already had her first real scheme in progress against her archenemy (Mal). Shere Khan had eventually gotten sick of the begging and given in, for once eager to be away from their child. Who said being annoying didn’t work to your advantage sometimes?

It was interesting to see Shere Khan’s tiger instincts at war with their general personality. Shere Khan cared about no one but themselves, yet their instincts made them overprotective of the child. They constantly worried that someone would use this weakness against them by kidnapping and threatening the child so the tiger had endeavored to keep Percy locked away from everyone. They still made sure to toughen the child up, but Percy was never let out of the house.

The result, of course, was that at seven, she had started devising schemes to get her mother out of the house so that she could go interact with people. The total isolation during her life had made her far more susceptible to Mal’s seclusion tactics. She would never let the other girl know that she had gotten to her, of course. This was also why her plan involved complete humiliation for Mal.

Percy was imagining exactly the expression that would cover the malicious fairy’s face. The slightest of smiles stretched across her cherry red lips until Carlos elbowed her in the stomach. She let out a low snarl at the small boy.

“What, Carlos?” He let out a slight whimper, and Percy immediately dropped the hostile posture. She didn’t want to make him feel like his mother did, no one should ever feel afraid of their friends. Sometimes she worried that she was going to end up just like her mother, taking her frustrations out on people who didn’t deserve it.

She made a vow then and there never to turn into her mother, and to make sure that Carlos never had to be afraid of her or anyone else. She would make Cruella pay for hurting her Carlos, one way or another.

“Mal is staring and she’s looking at you weirdly. You don’t want her to get any ideas.” He was right. Mal would know that it was them after this was over, but she would be too stuck on overcoming the humiliation to get her revenge immediately. Still, it was better if Mal was not expecting a plot before they even acted.

The two of them waited with bated breath for Kaa to dismiss class. The second that the serpent let them go, the duo was sprinting out the doors to the Wharf. Sprinting was their usual method of leaving class, mostly because Mal always chased after them.

“Where are you going, twerps?” Mal shouted after them. Carlos and Percy glanced at each other and smirked their evilest smirks (the lesson for the day had been learning a perfect villainous smirk). Everything was coming together perfectly.

Percy saw a vendor’s stand coming up and acted just as they planned. As she ran passed, she kicked out the leg of the stand and all of the merchandise came tumbling out, stopping Mal in her tracks. There was a throng of adults crowding around to grab everything that had fallen, blocking the fairy’s view of the tigress.

“Go, quickly, you know where to set up, I’ll lead them to you,” she whispered to Carlos. She waited until after his shock of white hair had disappeared before getting Mal’s attention. “Hey, Mali, looking for me?” She waved through the crowd and attracted the girl’s attention, then took off down a different alley than Carlos.

Glancing over her shoulder, Percy noticed that her half-sister was following not too far behind. She led her down numerous alleys, timing it in her head. She knew the amount of time Carlos needed to set up, and she would give it to him.

This is the last alley, she had her now. She needed to remember to jump or she would crash land with Mal. She could see the edge of the water where the alley let out at the Wharf. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Percy leaped a few feet, just missing the tripwire. She took a sharp turn and then slunk into the shadows to watch the outcome of her plan.

^^^^

Mal kept running after Percy and hit the tripwire Carlos had set up. She stumbled over it and her momentum sent her flying off the pavement and down into the water of the wharf. She flapped uselessly in water, unable to do more than doggy paddle.

“Help me Uma,” Mal shouted at her second in command. Mad Maddy and Uma had been following Mal in her pursuit of Percy, but they had been further behind her so neither of them had hit the wire.

Uma was too busy laughing to herself to help her frenemy. The girl had been playing with fire for months and she had finally been burned. Besides, villains don’t help each other.

Mal glared up at her newest archenemy. She managed to paddle over to the ladder connected to the Wharf and climb back to land. The second she was up, Mal saw a bucket of shrimp nearby, and a revenge idea quickly formed. She would teach Uma for disrespecting her. She walked over to the bucket, dripping water everywhere as she moved, grabbed it and turned it upside down on the teal-haired girl.

“There, now everyone will know that you’re shrimpy just from the smell of you. Hey, Shrimpy, that’s your name now,” Mal said, eyes glinting darkly as she humiliated the smaller girl. All of the laughter that had been aimed at her just a moment before was now directed at Uma. Good, Mal was not the girl you wronged.

In a few minutes, Percy had gotten her revenge of Mal, humiliating her in front of her friends and ruining one of her friendships. A few months later, Mal would ruin the other one without even needing any of Percy’s influence.

Uma and Mal became Archenemies until the end of time on that day. Mal was so stuck on scheming against her new enemy that she forgot that Percy had set up the entire event.

^^^^

Mal might have forgotten who set up her fall into the Wharf, but a thief that was born to be a Prince did not. Jay, the son of Jafar, was hidden in the shadows of the very same alley in the Wharf. He saw Carlos set up the tripwire, and wondered what the meek boy could possibly be planning. Then he saw Percy leap over it, and Mal take a dive. So that was what they had planned. He had started to wonder if the tigress didn’t have claws with how much she had taken from Mal.

Her plan ended up being super effective, and even Jay was laughing at the outcome. He and Mal might be sort of frenemies, but that even he could admit that the girl could stand to be knocked down a peg or two.

“I saw that,” Jay called out to the two conspirators that had hidden in his shadows.

“Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?” Percy asked, puffing her chest out and standing in front of Carlos. She must take her role as his protector pretty seriously. Most crews aren’t as protective over their members as she is.

“I wanted to see if I could get in on some of your schemes. I’m sure you have room for a thief,” he extended the offer.

“You want to join our crew?” Carlos asked looking confused. Did he not realize that they had just gotten away with embarrassing Mal? Everyone would be clambering to join them once word got out, Jay was just acting fast.

“I was thinking more like a partnership. I help you out with some schemes, you help me out with some. I don’t really take orders too well so I’m not interested in actually joining anyone.” The duo looked at each other and leaned in close holding a whispered conversation. Jay couldn’t make out anything they were saying.

A moment later, they turned to him in unison. “Alright, we accept your offer, welcome partially to the crew, Jay,” Percy told him, extending her hand for him to shake. He did so unsurely, Jay had never shaken someone’s hand before so he wasn’t exactly sure the proper etiquette. Should he squeeze extra tight?

That moment was the start of their relationship, and whether the three kids knew it or not, they tied their destinies together with that single conversation.

^^^^

Carlos was confused about why they had just agreed to spend time with Jay. He was one of Mal’s frenemies, although, he had more individuality than the other people who flocked to her did. This could be another one of Mal’s schemes, the girl was vicious and vengeful.

“What if he’s spying on us for Mal?” Carlos asked his best friend (don’t tell anyone). He had always thought that Jay was cool and wanted to hang out with the larger boy, but he hadn’t been confident enough to speak to him.

“Mal would never have let him laugh at her even if it was for a scheme,” Percy reminded him. She started fixing his hair which had been messed up in his hurry to set up the tripwire. “And even if he was spying on us, it’s better to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” She smiled, and Carlos felt his heart flutter.

He had never had someone care about him the way Percy did. His own mother treated him like he didn’t exist except for when she needed chores done or to vent her frustrations. The past three months had been perfect, and although they kept it quiet, the two of them had started to care about each other instead of just themselves. He didn’t want Jay’s pretty face to come in and mess this up, even if he had wanted to spend time with him for forever.

Percy looked at him curiously before commenting, “You know, Jay might be hanging out with us, but he isn’t in our crew. He’s just a new ally, you’ll always be my first friend.” The two of them never acknowledged what that response really meant, but they both knew. New people might come into their lives, but they would never forget about each other. Secure in their friendship, the two kids played for the rest of the day. They were unaware of how wrong they were about Jay, he was going to make himself a permanent fixture in Carlos and Percy’s lives.


	4. A Kitten, A Thief, and A Pup Walk Into A Bar

A Year and A Half Later:

In a hovel on the highest cliffside of the Isle, Dr. Finklestein was attempting to create another Sally. He had spent the past eight and a half years attempting to recreate his doll with no success. At this point, he didn’t expect the experiment to work, but he also did not want to admit defeat. Thus, when he flipped the switch to bring her to life, and the body didn’t so much as twitch after receiving the shock, he left the room disappointed yet unsurprised. Not five minutes after he left the room, his experiment came to life.   
Lucretia was born into darkness and spent her first night of life alone. 

Dr. Finklestein did not learn of his success until the next morning when he came to throw out the newest failure. He was given the surprise of his life when he saw a fully cognizant girl sitting before him, instead of the unresponsive vegetable he expected. 

“I am your creator, girl and you will do everything I say.” He quickly got to work, knowing she would need to be taught everything about life. She was essentially a baby in a nine-year-olds’ body. Then, after he thought she was far enough along, he would send her to run errands for him and to school so that she could learn enough about science to work with him in the lab. He did not have the temperament to teach her beyond the essentials, and it would already be enough of a waste of his valuable time to do so without adding in time to properly teach her science. Yes, she would have to go to school.

“Your name is Lucretia,” He told her, thinking of the famous poisoner. He had high hopes for his newest creation.

^^^^

Six Months Later:

Percy, Carlos, and Jay had become practically inseparable in the past two years. The only times they were apart were when Jay was causing trouble with Mal. The malicious fairy herself had mellowed slightly over the past two years, she was still nasty and mean, but she no longer exclusively targeted Percy. So, Jay was able to balance both of his friend groups with ease.

Mal’s rivalry with Uma was now more important to her than Percy. All Percy had done was exist, but Uma had actually done something to Mal. This was a lucky break for Percy who did not feel like constantly competing with Mal.

Today, Percy had left Carlos and Jay behind. He wanted a day to himself. Not that he didn’t want to be around his friends, Percy just always felt a little angrier when he had non-female days. It was nothing against the other genders he presented as it was just that something didn’t quite feel right. Some part of himself always felt slightly off like there was an itch under his skin that he couldn’t quite scratch. He knew that it was the same feeling that his mother had. Shapeshifters weren’t meant to be stuck in one unchanging body with a preset gender, the effect made them feel uncomfortable and dysphoric. 

Percy had tied his hair back and borrowed some of Carlos clothes for the day. Carlos and Jay had been fascinated when he told them that gender was different for shapeshifters, like their physical form it was fluid. When he explained that he liked to dress more masculine when he felt male or neither gender, they had both offered their clothes to him.  
Percy went to his spot as he always did. He was the only person that knew about his spot. Neither Carlos nor Jay knew anything about it. Percy had found the peaceful clearing in the woods years ago when he needed to get away from Shere Khan for a few hours. It was one of the only places on the Isle that didn’t make the place feel like a prison.   
When he arrived at the clearing, he wasn’t alone. There was someone sitting under his favorite tree. As he got closer, he realized that it was a girl around his age. She had long fiery red hair and her skin appeared to have a green tint to it. 

“Who are you? How did you find this place?” Percy growled at the girl. He was never very patient, especially when people invaded his territory. The girl looked up and stared at him in amazement. 

“I thought this was a place where I could be alone,” she responded, her voice sounded choppy and unsure like she wasn’t used to piecing words together. Percy gave the girl his scariest smile, the one that showed off his canines that were perfect for biting into things. “I’m Lucretia, and you are?”

Was she serious? Did she not know who Percy was? Everyone on the Isle knew who Percy was because of his parents. 

“I’m Percy, child of Hades and Shere Khan. Now, how did you find my clearing?” 

“Is that whole rawr fangs thing supposed to scare me?” She asked before laughing at him. Laughing at him as if he wasn’t the scariest kid on the Isle. “I just came out here for some fresh air while Dr. Finklestein experiments in the lab. I only have so long before he notices I’m gone.”

Percy opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything the redhead spoke up, “I better be going now. It was nice to meet you, Percy.” Then she was standing up and running away. Every movement she made seemed like it should have sent her crashing to the ground from her own clumsiness. Percy thought that maybe something about having long limbs made them harder to control. But that didn’t seem completely true, Jay was much taller than him with longer limbs and he had almost as much grace as Percy—no one beat a cat when it came to grace.

Had she said it was nice to meet him? Where was she from? No one on the Isle ever called anything nice and no one was ever happy to see a stranger. 

Percy shook his head and tried to forget about the strange girl, but some part of him was intrigued and looking forward to seeing her again, should such a meeting ever occur. Luckily for him, fate was on his side and he would be seeing much more of Lucretia.

^^^^

Lucretia made it home before the Doctor’s experiment was finished. She ran to the kitchen and began preparing his soup as she did every day. It was her job to take care of things around the house, and when he asked, helped with experiments.

When she messed up, which she did a lot at first, he yelled at her until she fixed everything. Lucretia was sure that it was normal, parents were supposed to yell and insult you. 

“Sal—I mean Lucretia, is my lunch ready?” He did that a lot, started to call her by another name before stopping. At first, she had thought her name was Salucretia, but he had cleared it up for her. She was unsure why he got her name wrong. Lucretia just hoped that he wasn’t developing memory problems, he was getting older.

“Yes, sir.” He hmmed at her response before entering the kitchen and settling down to eat his soup. 

“She would have made it better,” Dr. Finklestein mumbled to himself. He did this often, but Lucretia hadn’t figured out who he was talking about yet. “I need you to run into town tonight to pick up food supplies, the same as every other week.” Lucretia murmured her assent. 

She knew that she was lucky to live with such a smart man and to have been given life, but most of the time she felt this pain emitting from the organ she learned was called a heart. Lucretia had not been taught a word to describe what it was that she felt from her heart, but it was cold and bitter and heavy. She determined she did not like this feeling.   
The rest of the day passed by rather quickly. As was usual for Lucretia, she was left alone. When night began to fall, she left the house equipped only with a basket where she would put everything she bought.

There was all manner of strange people about on the Isle. Witches, ghouls, and monsters stalked the streets. Lucretia smiled, an expression she had learned early that day from Percy, at everyone who walked by her. The people all gave her a wide berth, which she thought was kind of them. It made getting to all of the stores easier.

The first place she went to was the apothecary for herbs, they already had the order on standby, and gave it to her as soon as she passed them a few coins. 

Lucretia was going to the next store when she saw a familiar back clad in black leather. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was who she thought it was until she saw the blue faded to orange hair. 

“Percy, hey, it’s nice to see you again,” she called out to the boy she wanted to befriend. She ran to catch up with him and then noticed that he wasn’t traveling alone. He was with two other boys. She gulped, suddenly feeling something tingling in her stomach and not in a good way. Something about Percy had made her feel relaxed even when he had seemed angry, but most other people off-put her and made her feel weird. She was still nice to them because she felt that everyone ought to be nice, but that didn’t stop them from making her feel weird. These two boys were no exception.

“Lucretia? What are you doing here?” He asked, blinking as he took in the sight of her. Aww, that was nice he was interested in knowing about her. 

The boy with white and black hair let out a whimper when he saw her, while the larger boy just raised an eyebrow. 

“You know this girl, kitten?” The larger boy asked, throwing an arm around Percy’s shoulders.

“I met her today, Jay, and what did I say about calling me kitten,” Percy hissed back. Then he turned to the smaller boy, “Carlos, calm down, she’s harmless.”

“Hello, I’m Lucretia, and you are?” She peered at them excitedly. She already had three friends, but maybe she could make three more.

“Jay, son of Jafar, and the pipsqueak over there is Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella de Vil.”

“It’s nice to meet both of you. I was doing some shopping, you can join me if you want,” Lucretia invited the trio. They glanced at each other and seemed to have an entirely silent conversation. She was amazed, could they communicate telepathically. 

Jay sighed and Carlos' shoulders slumped. Percy turned to Lucretia and said, “We would love to.” Lucretia felt her second smile crossing her features. She wasn’t sure why, but she enjoyed spending time with Percy. She had only known him for a few hours, but he seemed fun and oddly prickly. 

They walked together as a group to the butcher. The scent of rancid meat hit her the second she stepped into the store. Most people avoided the butcher because the meat that arrived on the Isle had always gone bad, but Lucretia had odd tastes, a result of how she was brought to life.

Her new friends hadn’t entered the shop with her, but she could feel them watching from outside. The second she stepped back outside they were all staring at her incredulously.

“Did you actually pay for that?” Jay asked. Lucretia was confused, why would she not have paid?

“Yes?” Lucretia replied, but it was less of an answer and more of a question.

“You have so much to learn, which you will if you stick with us,” Percy commented. “What do you say? Do you want to join my crew?”

“What’s a crew?” Lucretia hadn’t been this confused in months. Percy had just used a word that she had never heard before.

“It’s sort of like a family of choice,” Carlos said, speaking up for the first time since Lucretia had met him. She liked the sound of that, more family. She had learned that word from her other friends, but she didn’t have a family. Lucretia had tried calling Dr. Finklestein dad, but he hadn’t reacted well. 

“I’d like that. You can meet my other friends. We hang out once a week after I finish my chores. That was the last thing I had to pick up, come on let’s go.” She marched off, leading her new friends to Ursula’s Fish n’ Chips.

^^^^

Percy was confused when he heard his name called out by an unfamiliar voice until he saw the girl from earlier. He had met up with Carlos and Jay after his strange encounter with her. The three of them had decided to go grab something to eat together. Uma was always bragging about how great her mom’s place was so they thought they might stop by.   
The interruption to their night was a welcome one. Percy had been wondering about the girl since she left. It seemed Dr. Finklestein was back to his experiments and one of them had finally worked. The poor thing probably hadn’t been alive for very long, and her only company had been that horrible man. 

The boys hadn’t wanted Percy to say yes to her invitation to shop, but he had already decided that he wanted Lucretia in his crew. There was something about underdogs that drew his attention and his protective instincts. 

Which is how they ended up at Ursula’s Fish n’ Chips with a plus one who was intending to introduce them to her friends. Lucretia’s excitement was contagious. 

The second that Percy entered the restaurant, he was hit with the scent of fresh seafood and he felt his stomach growl. He was ravenous. 

“So where are your friends?” Percy asked Lucretia, his eyes darting from customer to customer. Most of the patrons were adults that were c-list villains, no one he really classified as worth knowing. The worst things they had done were being mean spirited or spiteful. King Beast had wanted to get rid of anyone who wasn’t chipper, not just the worst of the worst.

“Lucy!” A boy’s voice called out as some swooped the girl into a hug. 

“Gil, it’s good to see you,” Lucretia told him, awkwardly patting his back. She stood still throughout the rest of the hug and didn’t put her arms around his body. It seemed Percy’s newest crew member wasn’t big on physical affection. That was too bad, Percy rather liked having his ears scratched or cuddling with Carlos and Jay in the relative safety of Hell Hall.

After this Gil released Lucretia, Percy was able to get a good look at him. He was around Jay’s height and just as muscular with long hair and a handsome face. She remembered him. He was in her class at school, but he looked familiar for a different reason as well. He looked similar to the boy she had taken a bite out of back in first grade. 

“Hey, I know all of you,” Gil said, pointing at the group. “You’re Jay, Carlos, and Percy. You took a bite out of my brother a few years ago.” He focused on Percy for the last part of his comment.

“So you’re one of Gaston’s sons.” The boy nodded, giving all of them a wide and easygoing grin. Well, that explained the resemblance.

“There you are, lass, we thought for sure that you weren’t going to turn up this time,” A new voice interrupted. This was a voice that Percy recognized because it belonged to the person that sat behind him and teased him every day. Apparently, Percy was fun to tease and had great reactions. Whatever the reason, Percy spent most of the day fantasizing about stabbing him with that damn hook he carried around everywhere.

“Of course I came Harry, I would never miss our weekly meeting,” Lucretia gasped, sounding upset that he would even think so. 

“Nice to see you again, cutie,” Uma cut in. She walked over to Lucretia and put an arm around her shoulders. Percy noticed Lucretia’s checks tinge pink from the contact. His curiosity was piqued, but he couldn’t be sure if it was a reaction to close contact with anyone or that particular person. Still, he cataloged the reaction nonetheless.

The rest of the night was spent with the seven kids sitting around a table, telling tall tales and sharing jokes. They had all found true friends in the others, whether they yet realized it or not. Gil, Carlos, and Jay fell into a heated discussion about who the strongest villain on the Isle was. Uma started teaching Lucretia more common words that Dr. Finklestein had forgotten. And Harry and Percy fell into teasing and sniping at each other. 

If you asked any of them, including Lucretia after she adapted to the Isle, they would say that they found partners in crime. None of them would ever admit that they actually spent time together because they enjoyed the others’ company. Gil might have if you got him alone, but Harry and Uma had spent the past few years coaching him to give proper Isle approved answers to questions.

It was the beginning of a golden era of piracy and banditry for the Isle.


	5. With Friends Like These...

One Month Later:

Percy sat with perfect posture upon the deteriorating couch in the center of his living room. The couch was the only piece of furniture that decorated the room. Since everything on the Isle, including the people, were Auradon’s castoffs, there was little furniture that survived for longer than a few months. 

Shere Khan didn’t see any reason to have much in the way of worldly possessions, including furniture. Apparently, spending most of your life in a jungle as a tiger made you comfortable sleeping anywhere. Which was why Percy’s bed was comprised of a bundle of blankets and a pillow he had swiped from the delivery boats.  
He didn’t relax until after he heard the door slam shut. 

The lion pride had invited Shere Khan on a forest retreat for the week. They were trying to reconnect with the land so that they could pretend that they were back home and in power again, or something similar that made them sound less pathetic. It had been nine years since their banishment and all of the villains still hadn’t come to terms with the loss of their positions. 

He had the house all to himself for the rest of the week. With a loud whoop, he sprinted up the stairs to his room, grabbed his patchwork bag, and started stuffing clothes into it. There was no way he was spending a week alone in this house, and if he had anyone come over Shere Khan would find out which left only one option. Percy was chilling with Carlos at Hell Hall. Jay would be joining them too, hopefully, as long as he could get away from Jafar for the day.

^^^^

Percy arrived at Hell Hall not too long after he packed his bag. It was the crack of dawn, which meant Cruella would still be asleep. Carlos answered the door and ushered Percy into his room before he could even say a word.

There was a bruise forming in the shape of a hand on Carlos’ cheek, and Percy couldn’t hold back his enraged growl. He protected Carlos from the monster when he was around, and sometimes the mere mention of his name kept mommy dearest at bay, but some days anger outweighed self-preservation in Cruella. She had better hope that Carlos had Percy out of the house before she woke up because otherwise, blood would be spilled.

“Let’s go see what Uma is up to, Ursula’s should be open now,” Carlos said before Percy could fly into a rage. Picking a fight with Cruella would do them no good. No matter how many times he scared the woman, her crazy always overrode her terror and she bounced back to her former behavior.  
Percy reluctantly allowed Carlos to drag him out of the house and toward the restaurant that had become their go-to hang out over the past month. He had just enough time in Hell Hall to put his bag down.

Cruella lived so far inland that it took half an hour to make it to Ursula’s. The sun had risen by the time the duo wandered into the dive. Uma was wiping down tables while Harry and Gil wrestled on the floor. Percy rolled his eyes but smiled at the sight. Gil had endeared himself to Percy quickly, he was like one of those puppies he had seen on an Auradon show, adorable and impossible to hate. Harry was still an annoyance, but he was now Percy’s annoyance so he put up with him.

There were no customers, yet so when the door opened, all three kids turned to glare at whoever had decided to intrude on their safe haven; at least until they realized that it was Percy and Carlos. Percy’s crew and Uma’s crew had found themselves joined together in an alliance of sorts. They weren’t one crew, and they never would be because neither Percy nor Uma took orders well from others. Jay was still a floater, going from each of their crews to Mal’s squad. None of them begrudged the boy too much for his ability to befriend anyone. Lucy, Lucretia’s nickname, had begun to establish herself as a floater between Uma and Percy. 

Lucy had started to blossom over the past month, developing more of her own personality and realizing who she was. Life with Dr. Finklestein hadn’t left her with many opportunities for soul searching. The two crews spent all of Lucy’s visiting time, teaching her about life on the Isle. She was a quick study. 

She had become cynical in the past month, her learning had taught her about the issues with her home life. She had found a name for the emotion she felt deep in her heart when she was in the house: sadness. Lucy still had some of her residual kindness, but she had become hardened by her discoveries; however, she also found her passions, Weird Science and reading. Each day she became more and more of a person, and less of the drone she had been designed to be.

Still, there were some behaviors that were so embedded in who she was that she had not dropped them despite her friends’ insistence. She refused to speak ill of the Doctor. For two weeks, she wouldn’t leave the house except for on supply nights or to go to the clearing, until they convinced her to be adventurous and live her own life. 

Percy and Lucy had met up almost every day in the clearing since their first meeting. The two children had taken to calling each other kindred spirits. They swore that in another life they must have been siblings. It was this closeness that had helped to convince Lucy that she would be alright if she snuck out during the night to see them. Thus, they had spent fourteen nights straight of teaching Lucy new words and Isle etiquette. The seven children’s lives had taken an unexpected, but not unwelcome turn in the past month.  
Lucy should be joining them later that day, and they thought that she was finally ready to explore the Isle with them. Now that she understood what people were actually like here.  
It had crushed all of them to watch all of the sweetness and optimism fade from the girl. Before, she had been a blank slate sort of like a baby, and they had destroyed that newborn like innocence. There was no use dwelling on it, they had hardened her so that she would survive just as they had. 

“Oh, it’s just you,” Uma grumbled before going back to cleaning. Well, cleaning was a generous word for what she was doing, it was more like pushing dirt around with a rag. 

Uma never had nearly as much enthusiasm as Gil did, but even so, she was usually less grumbly. Percy raised an eyebrow without commenting. He turned to the boys for some answers about why Uma would already be in a bad mood.

“Morning to you too,” Percy replied as he plopped down in a chair. He pulled Carlos down on his lap and started carding a hand through his hair. He wasn’t one for words of comfort, rather he let actions speak for him. Physical affection always spoke volumes to Percy. 

^^^^

Carlos relaxed on his lap after a few minutes. Three years of friendship had desensitized him to Percy’s tawdry quirks. Carlos, in all honesty, loved when his friend was affectionate since it was the only time anyone ever really touched him. He couldn’t remember any hugs or pats or anything other than swats from Cruella even when he was a toddler.

Carlos was cut off from his musings by a loud and startled purr from deep within Percy’s chest. He looked up and saw that Gil had moved over to them and was petting Percy’s ears. Carlos held back a laugh at Percy’s expression, he looked murderous and delighted simultaneously. The shapeshifter loved having his ears scratched, but hated anyone knowing about his weakness. 

“Don’t worry about Uma, she’s just upset because Mal came by and called her shrimpy again,” Gil informed them, his voice and facial expression far more upbeat than humiliation from Mal deserved.

Gil had such a sweetness around him that even nearly a decade of life on the Isle hadn’t destroyed. He was always kind and honest. It was this that made Carlos feel like Lucy was pessimistic and sarcastic by nature and simply had it oppressed by the Doctor. If Gil was still this way after so long on the Isle, then Lucy shouldn’t have changed so swiftly unless it was already who she was and she was just falling into it. This was one of the areas where Carlos thought Percy was wrong because the boy thought that he had ruined Lucy. Carlos knew that was not the case, and he hoped one day his best friend realized that as well.

“Hasn’t that nickname gotten old for her yet? It’s so two years ago,” Percy commented, and if Carlos didn’t know him as well as he did, he wouldn’t have noticed that Percy was nervous. The boy was remembering how Uma had received her nickname and that it was technically their fault. Luckily, both Mal and Uma were too consumed with their feud to remember who had caused the exact chain of events. 

“Aye, one would think so, kitten, but when the daughter of Maleficent wants people to remember something they do.” Harry stroked Carlos’ cheek with his hook as he spoke to Percy, tracing the bruising from the slap Cruella had given him last night.

No one said anything about what Cruella did, just like none of them ever commented on anything that their parents did. They all knew that sometimes Hook’s temper got the best of him and Harry took the brunt of it for his younger sisters. Jafar held his affection just out of reach for Jay, always promising it to him after the next big score but never delivering. Ursula might have lost her enchanted voice, yet her words had a special kind of bite to them that always left Uma self-conscious. Gaston and his other sons were constantly ‘rough-housing’ with Gil. Percy shutdown after emotional displays and flinched afterward when anyone so much as moved. 

Uma looked at them and rolled her eyes mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like get a room under her breath. They all ignored her. 

“Am I interrupting something?” Carlos heard Jay ask. Before Carlos could even turn to look at the dark-haired boy, he was sent tumbling to the ground when Percy stood up and stepped away from them.

Like Carlos had said, Percy shut down after emotional displays. Normally, it didn’t end so painfully for Carlos, though.

“Glad to see that you could join us, Jay,” Percy remarked, ignoring the question. Jay laughed as he walked more into the restaurant. His dark eyes were gleaming, and Carlos just knew that he had stolen something valuable. 

Jay pulled something out of his pocket, but it was swiped before Carlos could see it.

“Thank you, Jay,” Harry said as he examined the lamp the other boy had stolen. Carlos rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the two boys. They were about to start bickering now, which would potentially last for hours. The two boys were so similar, yet just different enough for them to constantly clash. Sometimes, Carlos got the distinct impression that they both enjoyed fighting with each other, the same way that they enjoyed teasing Percy.

“Gil, Carlos, let’s leave the boys to their squabbling. I want to go have some fun and Anthony Tremaine looked at me funny the other day so you’re going to help me get revenge,” Percy told them matter-of-factly. She grabbed both of their hands and led them to Curl Up and Dye.

^^^^

Jay had ended up wrestling with Harry after the others left. They might have to turn in their weapons when they entered the restaurant, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t have fun with some fisticuffs. 

Uma hadn’t even been able to yell at them about it because customers had started showing up. She had been preoccupied with making sure her mother’s business actually turned a profit so she couldn’t be bothered to tell her friends to take it outside. 

When they settled down from wrestling, they both boasted that they could steal the best item from a customer without them noticing. The past few hours had been spent with each of them trying to outdo the other.

A few hours after they ran off, Gil, Carlos, and Percy came stumbling back through the front doors, cackling maniacally. Percy’s hair was down and framing her face—her hairstyles were used to signify what she was presenting as—with the bright blue of her hair matching her eyes and bringing them out. Carlos’ face was covered in soot which made his hair seem even whiter. Gil had paint splotches all over his face and clothes, and he didn’t even seem to care if his wide grin was anything to go by.

Jay felt like he had been punched in the gut. Something in his stomach was fluttering, his palms felt sweaty, and he couldn’t even put two words together. He had never been at a loss for words before, in his life, he was a smooth talker, he always knew the right thing to say. Not this time.

“Anthony Tremaine will never look at me funny again,” Percy sing-songed happily. She shared a grin with Carlos and Gil and then they dissolved into more laughter. Jay was glad that she didn’t know that ‘funny look’ was Anthony realizing that girls, especially Percy, were rather pretty. He wasn’t sure yet why he was glad, but he was. 

“And how did you make sure of that, kitten?” Harry asked, eyes roving over their disheveled forms. The three kids launched into their own versions of events simultaneously, each talking over the other. 

Jay couldn’t understand a word and turned to Harry to see if he had gotten any of it. Harry shrugged his shoulders with a fond look on his face as if to say ‘I have no idea what they’re talking about but aren’t they adorable’.

^^^^

Lucy had grown over the past month. Where she had once been a timid and naïve girl, now she understood the world she lived in and had grown a backbone. People might say ignorance was bliss, but she had started to enjoy her life much more after she had gained knowledge. She had friends that cared and gave her life meaning beyond the purpose Dr. Finklestein gave her.

She had grown to hate her creator after learning that being yelled at and berated was not normal. That the person he was always comparing her to was Sally, his original creation. She would never be good enough in his eyes, and he considered her to be nothing more than a servant. Still, she wanted his praise and his love. It was a war with her own heart and mind. 

Lucy had a plan for today. She was not going to let him keep her locked up in this hovel for the rest of her days. Some months ago, he had mentioned sending her to school to learn about Weird Science. She had wanted to make him proud so she had readily agreed. Now she wanted to learn about science because it was her passion, not because it was expected of her. 

“Dr. Finklestein,” she probed, waiting to see if she had his attention before continuing, “You said that I could start school soon. I was wondering if I could begin attending next week?”

“Huh, oh yes, right, you will be able to help me in the lab if you attend school. Very well, you may go.” Lucy felt like cheering. She would be able to see her friends every day now. Plus, she wouldn’t have to spend entire days around the Doctor anymore. She quietly excused herself from the room. He didn’t even notice her leaving. He had already forgotten about her existence.

Lucy had gotten more and more bold, the longer she had been visiting her friends, while the Doctor had become more and more forgetful of her existence. There had been an excitement when she was first created, like a child with a new toy, but as time passed he had gotten bored.

She snuck out of the house earlier that afternoon than normal. Lucy entered Ursula’s Fish n’ Chips three hours before her usual time, and it was like experiencing an entirely new world. There were far more people packed into the run-down shack. She had never seen any of these people before in her life. 

Lucy felt that tingly ball appear in her stomach again, only now she had a name for it, anxiety. Uma had told her all about it, and the girl had been happy to find out that there was a word for what she was feeling. She wasn’t broken or wrong, it was normal for some people to feel this way. Lucy hadn’t shared the information about her anxiety with anyone other than Uma and Percy. She told Percy because she shared everything with her best friend. 

“You’re early,” Uma told her as she walked up to greet her and guide her to a table in the back. The rest of their friends were feasting on all sorts of seafood as Lucy approached them. 

Uma always came off as gruff and tough, but Lucy knew that she cared deep down, she was just too cool to show it. 

The red-haired girl was going to inform her friends that she would be attending school with them, when she remembered a recent lesson they had given her, always play your cards close to your chest. She would surprise them with her appearance tomorrow. Perhaps she would make a name for herself at school as a mad scientist. She fell into her fantasies as her friends talked around her.

^^^^

Percy had slept fitfully at Carlos the previous night. Cruella and she had gotten into it the moment she stepped through Hell Hall’s front door. Carlos had held her back from doing anything too drastic, but she hadn’t been able to rest easy knowing that they were in such close quarters.

The two of them left for school together. Percy wished that Lucy had been allowed to attend. If there was one person who could benefit from an education, it was Lucy. Percy had grown to hold nothing but disdain for Dragon Hall over the past three years. The Isle’s school hadn’t taught her anything new in years, and now it wasn’t even the only way for her  
to get out of the house; however, she was extremely competitive by nature and she and Mal had turned their grades into a competition so she did get something out of it.

Percy swaggered into her classroom and to her seat in the back corner of the room. It had just the right angle for watching everyone in class. The rest of her friends sat all around her. They had gotten to class early today so that they could leer at all of the incoming students. 

By the time class was starting, Kaa still had not arrived. He was always on time so his tardiness was especially odd. When Kaa finally made it to the classroom, he wasn’t alone. There was a tall girl following behind him with long, blood-red hair and green-tinted skin.

What was Lucy doing in Dragon Hall?

“Class meet your newest classmate, Lucretia, daughter of Doctor Finklestein.” Percy saw Lucy flinch at the word daughter. That thing was not her father.

Percy saw Mal smirk and move to introduce herself to Lucy. Uma was faster than Mal, though, and directed the taller girl to her friends. 

“It’s good to see you, Lucy. You can go sit with Percy and the crew.” It was a strategic comment, meant to set a claim from both gangs on the new girl. Anyone who was crazy enough to mess with either Uma or Percy wasn’t crazy enough to mess with both of them. 

Percy immediately noticed everyone that had been eyeing Lucy back off. She smirked to herself, perfect. She had all of her crew together now, and she had a feeling that the next few years were going to be wickedly hellish.


	6. He's a Scoundrel, She's a Flirt, and There's No Room For Feelings on the Isle

Four Wicked Years Later:

Lucy had grown much over the past four years both physically and mentally. She had matured into a lovely young woman with striking blood-red hair and gunmetal grey eyes, both of which complimented her green-tinted skin. Where before her face had held the softness of childhood and vestiges of baby fat, now it had faded and her features had sharpened. 

Her mind had sharpened as well, with her proving to be a prodigy in Weird Science. Percy often called her a genius. 

Her friendship with the young shapeshifter had morphed and grown over the years. When they first became friends it had been more of a mentor and mentee relationship, but now they were partners and equals. Percy plotted and schemed and generally caused mischief, while Lucy created all sorts of concoctions for said schemes. The two of them often ran around the Isle causing trouble with Carlos behind them smoothing everything over. 

Carlos cleaned up all of their messes and as far as Lucy could tell, he had always cleaned up Percy’s messes. 

It had taken her longer to become friends with the taciturn boy than it had with Percy and the others, but that did not mean that she was any less close with him. She and Carlos had become good friends in their own right over the years. He had just seen her as competition for a while until he realized she wasn’t trying to earn the same affection from Percy that he was. Well, she wasn’t entirely sure that Carlos had consciously realized that was why he had spent so much time at odds with her, the boy was oblivious but he was in good company because the others were too.

Percy might be her best friend, but that didn’t stop Lucy from having other close friends. She established herself as a floater from early on so it was no surprise that she remained close with Uma and her gang, specifically with Harry. She had just clicked with the slightly crazy pirate. He was spontaneous and expressive, an explosion of color in the grey monotony of life with Dr. Finklestein. The two of them spent long nights together, talking about everything and nothing for hours. Sometimes Gil would join them, which Lucy enjoyed immensely. Gil was like a ray of sunshine, brightening up the perpetually cloudy Isle. 

“Lucy tell Percy my glare is scarier,” Uma commanded, drawing the redhead out of her thoughts. Lucy made a show of glancing at the two girls, already knowing whom she would choose. 

“Percy, Uma’s glare is scarier than yours.” Uma blew her a kiss, and Lucy felt her heart thump faster in her chest. The sea witch had been effecting her like this since the first time they met, and she was the only reason that Lucy had stuck around Ursula’s long enough to make friends. She didn’t count Uma as one of her closest friends, though, because what they had was special and complicated, not just friendship, not quite more.

Percy was focusing all of the force of her glare on Lucy. She would have winced if it had actually been intimidating. Everything about Percy screamed adorable no matter how hard she tried not to. If the poor thing hadn’t already proven that she could be a powerful enemy, then people wouldn’t have taken her seriously at school.

“Don’t worry, kitten, there’s nothing wrong with losing to Uma,” Harry teased, pulling a lock of Percy’s hair with his hook. Dear god, how oblivious were they, he had resorted to literal pigtail pulling.

Percy let out a huff but otherwise said nothing.

“Harry go do the rounds,” Uma told the pirate. Gil had been gravitating away from serving customers food—Uma had roped him into doing her work for her today—and toward Harry and Percy. There was always a pull around them dragging the three teenagers together, and when they were there Jay and Carlos as well. 

Usually, Uma was just as amused by the proceedings as Lucy, but today it was interfering with work. Which was why Uma was separating them.

Gil never went with Harry when he made rounds to other shops and intimidated the shopkeepers into giving him money; Gil was too nice to scare anyone, and he always tried to hold a conversation with them. Not very good for business. 

“Fine. Let’s go, kitten,” Harry said. He tossed Percy over his shoulder, grabbed his sword, and left the shop. Lucy could hear Percy shouting for Harry to put her down in the distance.

Uma turned all of her attention to Lucy and stared at her with a wolfish grin. “Now it’s just the two of us.” 

Lucy gulped. What had she just gotten herself into?

^^^^

Percy walked past all sorts of stalls, grabbing things here and there. Everyone on the Isle stole, even Lucy after a time. 

Harry had put her down after they were a good distance from the restaurant. 

She grabbed something that was shining beams of red light every time light hit it. Percy was so entranced with the light that she didn’t realize that the stall’s owner saw her.

“Hey!” Percy glanced up and noticed an angry-looking man glaring at her. She knew exactly what that look meant, they had to get out of there now. She grabbed Harry’s hand and took off at a dead sprint never even stopping to look behind her. Harry stumbled for the first few feet, unprepared for the sudden movement. He kept up with her after he caught on.

“Never a dull moment with you, kitten,” He told her and gave her a wink. They had been able to stop running after a few minutes and were trying to catch their breath. They laughed together for a moment. The two of them were leaning into each other as they hid in an alley, listening to their pursuer passing by them. Percy was close enough that she could see green flecks in Harry’s ocean blue eyes. She glanced down at his lips for a moment, and they both leaned in closer together. 

Percy closed her eyes for a moment and waited for his lips to meet hers, but it never happened.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Harry snarled. Confused, she opened her eyes and saw him glaring at the wall behind her head. She turned to see what had incurred his wrath and distracted him from their moment. Mal had tagged a wall in Uma’s section of town. Leave it to her sister to ruin things for her even when she wasn’t around.

Now all Harry would be able to think about was getting Mal back. She rolled her eyes and pulled away from the blue-eyed boy. Percy didn’t even want to kiss Harry anyway.  
“We’re supposed to be doing the rounds, remember. You can tell Uma afterward.” She sauntered out of the alley now that they weren’t being chased. 

^^^^

Carlos had never expected that he would enjoy Jay’s company. When the boy had first inserted himself into their group, Carlos had been sure that he wouldn’t stick around for long. He hadn’t expected the boy to actually find him interesting. Now they skulked about the Isle together. Jay swiped metal for him to use for his devices and watched as Carlos built things.

It was a strange partnership, one that no one had ever expected and that still baffled their classmates. Nobody had ever said anything, though, for fear of angering Jay.  
Still, sometimes he and Jay heavily disagreed with each other. One such matter was Mal, the malicious fairy terrified Carlos and always tried to ruin Percy’s life, yet Jay still hung around her. 

“Boof,” Mal faked a bark as she greeted the two of them. Carlos flinched and avoided eye contact with her. Everyone knew about his fear of dogs, but Mal was one of the few people who actively teased him about it. Percy had warned the rest of the kids off making fun of him for it. Mal wasn’t afraid of Percy so he still had to put up with it from her.  
Jay laughed and clapped an arm around Carlos drawing him closer. The dark-haired boy did this every time Mal made fun of him, he brushed it off like it was all one big joke. The two of them had talked about it once when they were younger during a sleepover at Hell Hall with the original trio. It was late and too dark to see each other’s faces, which had made talking about feelings so much easier.

“Why do you hang around Mal even with the way she treats us?” Carlos had asked. It had taken him a few minutes to answer, and Carlos had worried he had fallen asleep. 

“We’ve known each other for forever and she’s not awful company. Besides, I think that Percy can handle himself. Mal doesn’t mean much with the teasing, she does that with everyone. I promise if you ever feel like she takes it too far, I’ll put a stop to it.” That had been the end of the conversation, and neither boy ever acknowledged Jay’s moment of compassion.

Carlos held onto that memory as he endured Mal’s presence. The girl walked around with a chip on her shoulder and an air of superiority. Carlos wondered if she realized that the only person she had was Jay who was a frenemy at best. The girl had isolated herself from everyone. Sometimes he felt bad for her, but then he remembered everything she had done to Percy and that villains weren’t compassionate.

^^^^

Percy went with Harry from shop to shop. Her mood had soured after the moment in the alley, and she hadn’t attempted to keep up conversation with the pirate. Harry had noticed her change of mood but wisely hadn’t commented. This was not because he knew to keep his mouth shut, but rather because the last time he had bothered her about her mood, she had clawed at his face. 

They arrived at Curl Up and Dye for their last stop, and Percy had a wickedly terrible idea. She didn’t care about kissing Harry, but he had made her feel slighted so she would get a little revenge.

Lady Tremaine made her son Anthony work the front desk of her hair salon. While the store was not yet open, Anthony would be going over the books.

Harry and Percy swaggered into the salon, drawing Anthony’s attention away from his work.

“We’re closed until midnight,” He informed them before he realized to whom he was speaking. 

“Aww, do you not want us around, Tony?” Percy purred, walking closer to the handsome boy. She leaned against the desk and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “And here I was wanting to spend time with you.”

She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he looked at her nervously. Then, he took a deep breath and gave her a confident smirk. 

“I always have time for you, lovely, but your little pirate friend is a different matter,” he told her, leaning in close to her and running a hand through his hair. Anthony flirted with all of the girls in their grade, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him.

Percy giggled and faked interest as she gazed at him. She reached out to touch his arm, but before she could, a hand stopped her.

“How about you give us all the money in the register, mate.” Harry looked furious and Anthony quaked in front of him. He forked over the cash without any fight. 

Harry tugged Percy out of the store, money in hand.

“What was that?” Harry’s eyes were blazing and for a moment, Percy thought he was the one with hellfire in his veins and not her.

“I believe that it’s called flirting. You should know, I see you doing it all the time,” She responded. 

“I know what flirting is. What were you doing flirting with Anthony Tremaine of all people?”

“Careful, Harry, you sound like a jealous boyfriend,” Percy teased lightly. Harry flushed to the tips of his ears and scowled, which was enough of a reaction for her. 

Taking her words as a challenge, he grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her to him. His lips crashed against hers in a sweet yet sloppy kiss. Neither of them had ever kissed someone before, which was clear to them after the fact. When they pulled away from each other, Percy was left staring at Harry.

“Is that what you wanted?” He asked. 

Percy was breathing heavily, unsure of what to do or even think. She had just been messing around, but he had made her heart flutter. Percy had always known that Harry was handsome and that she enjoyed his company, but now all new thoughts were swarming through her head. 

They didn’t know exactly what, but something had changed between them. Percy felt herself blushing as Harry looked at her with a special gleam in his eye. It was different than the way he looked at other girls, there was something almost tender about it. She really didn’t want to analyze what that meant or what how she felt meant.

^^^^

Harry couldn’t believe what he had just done. Sure, he flirted with other girls, but he had never kissed any of them. And Percy wasn’t just some random girl, she was one of his best friends. 

He cursed her knowing him well enough to antagonize him into action. For a moment, he had thought they were going to kiss earlier, and then she had flirted with Anthony Tremaine of all people. 

She was the most infuriating person he had ever met. She could never leave well enough alone, was always causing trouble, and had sent him tumbling down a rabbit hole of emotion. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but now he couldn’t take it back and he could feel that something in their friendship had changed. 

He didn’t see her as the girl he sat behind in class that he teased thoroughly. He saw the beautiful person she was becoming. She was enchanting with her wide doe-eyes, perfect nose, and high cheeks bones. What he worryingly found the most entrancing was her cherry red lips. 

He couldn’t stop himself from glancing at her fondly. He would have to keep his distance for the time being, at least until he got his feelings under control. It was one thing to have friends when that was already disapproved of on the Isle, it was another entirely to develop a crush or even more than that.

“Uma should be expecting us,” He told her when it became apparent that she wasn’t going to speak anytime soon.

Harry would have worried that she was disgusted by him kissing her, but when he looked at her again, she was blushing. Maybe he wasn’t alone in his feelings, not that it mattered though because neither of them would be acting on said feelings.

^^^^

Gil liked to help his friends, which was why he worked Uma’s shift for her. He wished he could have hung out with Harry and Percy, though; instead, he was stuck taking orders for people and watching Uma and Lucy talk. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but whatever it was had made Lucy blush and avoid eye contact with Uma.

He was bored without his best friends around keeping him company, and he couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing right now. Whatever it was must have been more fun than waiting tables. Everyone was so rude and impatient, he understood why Uma hated working now. 

Percy and Harry walked into the restaurant about two hours after they left. They were steadfastly ignoring each other, which was odd to Gil because the two of them were normally bantering with each other. He shrugged it off, content to let them deal with whatever was going on with them. Gil was a chill guy, and he liked to leave other people’s problems alone. Still, he wasn’t going to let them awkwardly stand there not speaking.

“Hey, you’re back,” Gil said, approaching both of them. He had never seen two people look more relieved to see him. 

Percy grinned widely. “It’s good to see you, Gil. I’m just going to go join Uma and Lucy,” She said before walking away as quickly as she could without running. Gil wasn’t the most astute person, but even he could tell that something had happened between the two of them, and now things were awkward. 

“What happened?” Gil asked. He wasn’t expecting an answer, half of the time when he asked questions no one answered him. Harry might be his best friend, but he didn’t always have a good enough temperament to keep up with Gil’s endless queries about seemingly obvious events.

Harry looked at Gil with wide eyes, as if he hadn’t expected him to know anything was amiss.

“You know you’re a lot more perceptive than most people think,” Harry commented. “Do you have a second to talk?” He continued, putting a hand on Gil’s back and ushering him over to a table before he could answer. He did have the time since he had just finished Uma’s shift, but he was slightly confused.

“But Uma and Lucy already have a table,” He told Harry, pointing at the table in case he had missed their friends. 

“I know, mate, but I would prefer for this conversation to remain private. There are certain matters I would rather not discuss with our Captain,” Harry explained. Gil let out an oh and then agreed to sit with him. 

They sat down at a small table in one of the corners of the chip shop where they were away from prying ears. 

“I did something stupid.”

“I thought that was my job,” Gil joked. He didn’t really mean it, but when everyone around you constantly made jokes at your expense, you started making them too. Harry stared him down for a moment.

“Nah, I’m the impulsive one, you’re the one that gets dragged into my trouble.” Harry’s words brokered no room for argument, and Gil felt a smile come to his face. Harry might get irritated with him sometimes, but he went out of his way to make sure Gil never felt stupid.

“I kissed Percy.” Gil was confused, why was this an issue? His Dad kissed all of his friends, it was a normal way to greet your friends. The only reason Gil had never greeted any of them with a kiss was because they were all weird about physical contact.

“Okay, and?” He inquired, waiting to find out what the actual problem was. Harry looked at him confused for a moment before it faded to understanding.

“Right, Gaston is a ladies’ man. The problem is that I liked it. I wouldn’t mind doing it again. I need you to help me stay away from her at least until I get over this little crush.” Gil didn’t understand why it was so bad that Harry had liked kissing Percy. Percy was pretty and had soft-looking lips, he would have enjoyed kissing her too. Harry was his best friend, though, and he wouldn’t deny him help when he needed it, even if he had to help him avoid their other best friend. So, Gil agreed and the two boys stayed at their table away from the girls.

^^^^  
Lucy had enjoyed her day with Uma, though, the two of them were still toeing the line of dating. She had a feeling that they would be doing this dance for the rest of their lives. They were only thirteen so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it took them a little while longer to get everything settled. 

Lucy watched Harry and Percy walk back into the restaurant. They were both acting odd and avoiding eye contact with each other. What had happened there? The two of them were usually like two peas in a pod, causing mischief and mayhem together. There’s was a chaotic friendship in comparison to Harry and Lucy’s more chill relationship.

Gil walked over to greet the two of them and almost immediately afterward, Percy scurried away to them.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Lucy commented, happy to use the phrase that Harry had taught her. He had a penchant for making cat comparisons with Percy, and it had rubbed off on her. “What’s wrong with you and Harry, bromance on the rocks?”

Percy groaned and buried her head on the table. She didn’t answer for a few minutes. Then she started mumbling into her hair, and neither girl could understand her.

“Could you repeat that neither of us speaks dwarf.” Uma was right in her comparison. Percy’s words had sounded more like the language the dwarves on the Isle spoke than English.

Percy picked her head up and looked at them, “I said, Harry and I kissed.”

Under ordinary circumstances, Lucy would have been delighted for her friend. It was obvious to anyone who watched the two of them, that they were completely enamored with each other. The issue was that each of them was also enamored with other people, and most of their classmates had made bets about who they would end up with first. Lucy had firmly believed that Carlos would be Percy’s first kiss and she had bet as such. There was too much history and pining there for them not to. Yet, she was wrong.

“Looks like I won the beat,” Uma whispered in her ear. Lucy groaned, knowing that she owed the girl a favor now. There wasn’t enough money on the Isle for any of them to bet with so most kids bet with their time, instead.

“I know I shouldn’t have kissed him back. Now things are weird. I need you to help me stay away from him, at least until I get over this silly crush,” Percy blabbed, wrongly interpreting their silence. She must really have been worried about everything if she let out that much. She kept her cards close to her chest most of the time.

Lucy didn’t approve of Percy avoiding Harry. The two of them really cared for each other, but life on the Isle didn’t allow for love or sweet relationships. After all, villains didn’t care about anyone but themselves.

That moment crushed all of the hope in her for a future with Uma. Villains didn’t get happy endings, Percy knew it, which is why she knew she had to let her feelings die, and Lucy was starting to get the hand she had been dealt.


	7. Should've Known You'd Bring Me Heartache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's beliefs about love on the Isle from the last chapter are fueled by her learning everything from her emotionally constipated friends. She doesn't quite know the score for how relationships work on the Isle so this is a biased viewpoint from her. Carlos and Jay being soft in this chapter hopefully isn't too OOC, since I headcanon them being concerned and diligent friends even before they went to Auradon.

Several Weeks Later:

Carlos groaned when Percy denied yet another invitation to Ursula’s. They had been avoiding the restaurant for the past few weeks. Carlos wasn’t sure what had happened between his oldest friend and Uma’s crew, but he was ready for it to be resolved.

The white-haired boy enjoyed Gil’s company and even found Harry’s antics amusing at times, but it wasn’t the same without Percy there. They added something to the group that made the conversation feel almost stagnant without their presence. 

He had talked to Jay about it, but the thief was as clueless as him. No one else was answering questions, although, both boys got the feeling that they knew.  
Uma’s crew was, in turn, avoiding Percy. They had started sitting on the other side of the classroom, and no longer came to Hell Hall if they knew that Percy would be there. It was grating on Carlos’ nerves. 

Even Lucy was around less now that she had to try to balance time between her two friend groups. It had been easier for her when they were all chummy and spending most of their time together.

The only benefit Carlos received from this entire ordeal was that he had had more one-on-one time with his best friend than he had in years. Jay still joined them regularly, but he had gotten used to that early on in their friendship too so it was basically the same as having one-on-one time together.

Carlos had thought that if he put pressure on Lucy, she might break and tell him. He had underestimated his science bro, and now she was avoiding him. All she had told him was that what had happened was between Harry and Percy.

At least now, he knew who specifically Percy was avoiding in Uma’s gang.

“You’re going to have to talk to Harry sometime, you know,” Carlos pointed out to Percy. They glared for a moment before they seemed to fully take in his words.

“How do you know that it’s Harry I’m avoiding? Did Lucy tell you what happened?” Now Carlos was more suspicious. Percy didn’t actively share information, but when Carlos pressed for it they usually folded. What could possibly have happened to make them not want him to know? And why had Lucy been filled in on it if he wasn’t?

His old insecurities about being replaced by the girl reared their ugly head. He thought he had grown out of them, but they were still there. It was hard not to feel that way, though, with the closeness between the two teens. They understood each other on a deep level and sometimes they even finished each other’s sentences.

“She just told me to leave it alone, it was between you and Harry.” Percy sighed in relief. Carlos’ eye twitched. What was she keeping from him?

He and Jay had spent the past few weeks giving them space, but they deserved answers at this point if the issue was going to cause problems with their friends.

“Good, she can keep a secret after all.” Carlos knew that Percy didn’t mean anything by it. Lucy had been awful at keeping secrets and often spilled them for the first year or two that they had been friends. She hadn’t understood the concept of a secret for a while.

Gil too had trouble keeping secrets, but this was more because he forgot when he was supposed to be quiet.

“I’ve been patient for the past few weeks.” He hadn’t been in the slightest, but she didn’t know that, “Don’t you think I deserve some answers about why you’ve been avoiding our friends?”

Percy frowned and was silent for a moment. Good, she was thinking over his words. She took his advice and counsel most of the time, hopefully, this would be one of those times.

“Very well, but I don’t feel like repeating myself and I would rather be the one to inform Jay as well. So, I’ll tell you after he gets here.” Carlos could wait he was a patient person, but that didn’t stop him from hoping Jay would be here soon.

^^^^

Jay arrived at Hell Hall, wishing that whatever was going on between Percy and Uma’s gang was over. He was sick of the tension. 

He thought about walking straight into the house but remembered the last time he had done that. Cruella had nearly killed him. Percy might not be scared of the woman and able to intimidate her, but that didn’t stop her from terrifying Jay. He would never tell anyone this, of course.

He knocked and before his knuckles could even brush the door a second time, he was yanked inside the house. 

“You’re finally here. Come on, Percy has decided to tell us what’s going on with Harry and them.” Carlos spoke a mile a minute, throwing Jay off his rhythm. 

“Wait, what do you mean Harry and them.” He thought there was a problem with her and Uma. Carlos rolled his eyes but told Jay anyway.

“Lucy told me that something happened with Harry and them. I confronted them about it and they agreed to tell us about what happened.” Jay just nodded, taking in all of the information. 

Why did people have to cause so much drama? It was so much easier to just fight and get over it. He was all for trouble but the drama was just exhausting; however, he would like to know what had caused the tensions with all of his friends.

He entered Carlos’ room and saw Percy sitting on the floor waiting for them. They looked nervous, which put Jay on edge. What could possibly make them nervous?

“I’m assuming Carlos has already filled you in,” Percy said smiling lightly. Jay nodded and she sighed. “Well, I might as well just go out and say it. Harry kissed me.”

“That bastard,” Jay growled out, his mind automatically going to the worst about why Percy would have started avoiding the boy after a kiss. To think, he had started really getting along with pirate, even admired him for his thieving and sparring skills.

“And I liked it. I haven’t been able to face him since then.” Jay blinked in confusion for a few minutes. What was so wrong with kissing someone and enjoying it? Lots of people on the Isle kissed other people and did even more than that and enjoyed it. Did Percy not know how they came into existence?

Also, since when did Percy Khan cower and hide from anyone? They made people cower before them not the other way around.

Jay looked at Carlos to see if the boy had gotten something more from what Percy had just said than he did, but the white-haired teen looked just as lost as he did.  
Percy sighed as they looked at the two of them. 

“You have to swear on your lives that what I tell you will be told to no one.” They both swore so. Jay wasn’t one for spreading gossip anyway, and the only person he would tell is Mal who he never spoke to about Percy.

“He made me feel something, light and happy. The beginnings of a like that would lead to love,” She spat all of this out like she was talking about being poisoned. 

Jay’s stomach sank at her words. He wasn’t sure why, but the idea of Percy with Harry was disturbing to him. If the look on Carlos’ face was anything to go by, he felt similarly.   
Why was she so concerned about feeling things? Sure, love and happiness were looked down upon by the denizens of the Isle, but that didn’t stop people from having them. Jay would never let other people’s expectations stop him from having something he wanted.

Jafar had taught him to take whatever he wanted, including love. The Vizier had high hopes for his son, which included him settling down with someone and ruling over the world together. Moments like these, made him curse Shere Khan. They had made Percy so disgusted by their own emotions that Percy would refuse to feel them and shut down when emotion affected them.

The Captain hadn’t exactly endeared his own son to the ways of love either, seeing as he constantly beat his children under the guise of loving them. 

Jay could see how the both of them experiencing a positive emotion they were conditioned to react negatively to would cause them to shut down and avoid each other. He might not like the idea of the two of them together, but he wasn’t letting his friend of six years cut themself off from love.

He opened his mouth to speak up, but Carlos beat him to it.

“And what’s the problem with feeling something like that? Worried about what people would think or how it might damage your street cred? Here I thought Percy Khan didn’t let anyone, even Shere Khan, control what they did.” Jay was going to swat at Carlos and get him to stop antagonizing her. He didn’t think that riling her up was the best way to open her mind to the idea of emotion not being bad. Then, he saw the fury coating their face and realized how brilliant Carlos was. Percy was always tricking people into doing things, so they should use her own tricks against her.

“You’re right. What do I care about what other people think? I can think and feel whatever I want and if anyone has a problem with it, they’ll have to answer to me.” They stood up suddenly, smoothing out their dark blue leather, and marching toward the door with a purpose.

“Wait, where are you going?” Jay yelled after them. 

“I have a pirate to talk to.” With that, they were gone, leaving two shocked teens behind.

“What did we just start?” Jay asked to himself, gaining an equally astounded look from Carlos.

Jay started thinking about why it was that his stomach clenched at the idea of seeing Harry and Percy together. Percy was his friend and he should be happy for them. If Harry Hook made them happy, then Jay was glad. Except, the words felt wrong even in his head. He knew that if he had spoken them aloud they would have tasted acidic. 

Harry wasn’t a bad guy so it wasn’t that. Maybe it was just the thought of Percy being with anyone. He tried to think about another one of his friends dating, perhaps Carlos and Gil. His stomach clenched again. 

Maybe he was just overprotective of his friends. 

Just to make absolutely sure, he created a third option in his head. Third time’s a charm. He thought of Mal dating some faceless person and all he felt was pity for the poor soul. Why didn’t he care who Mal dated if he cared who Carlos and Percy dated?

He thought back to the day when they first became friends. Carlos and Percy had been so cute and devious that he couldn’t help but talk to them. He had wanted to spend time with them and had used the guise of having more allies to do it. There had always been a pull for him to spend time with them and know what was going on in their lives. When they had problems, he wanted to solve them. When they were upset, he wanted to make them smile. 

His friendship with Mal had none of that. The two of them didn’t feel compelled to spend all of their time together. He laughed at her problems before being roped into helping her, rather than wanting to help her. 

It was a sudden revelation, one that he had known subconsciously for years, but had only just been realized by his conscious self. He was in love with Carlos and Percy.  
“Are you alright? You’ve been oddly quiet for a few minutes.” Carlos was gazing at him, his eyes full of genuine concern.

“I think I’m in love with you,” He blurted out, then cursed himself. Why had he just said that? He should have taken that to the grave. He might have encouraged Percy to go confess their feelings, but now he realized that was a horrible decision. 

“I ah uh are you talking about me?” Carlos stuttered out, pointing at himself like he couldn’t believe that Jay would ever even look at him. Jay knew that he couldn’t take it back, it would crush Carlos. 

He knew that words wouldn’t do any good now so he put both hands on Carlos' head and kissed him, stopping all of his rambling.

“Hmmph, I’m going to take that as a yes,” Carlos said after Jay finished kissing him.

“There’s just one problem. I think I might be in love with Percy too,” Jay told him. He felt that it was best to get it out there.

“Oh thank god, I love you, but I love them too.”

^^^^

Harry listened to Uma nag, wishing he was anywhere else. His Captain had taken to berating him for avoiding Percy. She thought that Harry was being ridiculous and should either pretend he didn’t feel anything for Percy or tell them how he really felt. Neither option sounded good to Harry, but he had spent enough time ignoring and running away from the issue.

“Alright, you win. I’ll stop being a coward and tell them how I feel. You happy?” 

“I’m never happy,” Uma deadpanned.

Gil looked in-between the two of them, frowning. 

“I thought you said that you wanted to avoid Percy until you were over your feelings for her.” The blonde voiced his statement like a question.

“Yes, well, seeing as that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Confessing seemed to be the next best option, as our Captain has wasted no time telling me,” Harry informed him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

He was about to leave and go looking for Percy when they stepped through the doors. Percy was sauntering into the restaurant as if they owned the place. Then again, in Percy’s mind, maybe they did. 

“Harry Hook, just the guy I wanted to see,” They purred at him. He made a split-second decision. One he would come to regret in the following months, though, he didn’t know it yet.

“I bet you do. One kiss and now you can’t get enough of me, lass. What can I say, I guess I’m just catnip to the ladies,” Harry replied with a laugh. He saw the slightest tightening of her eyes and a flash of pain followed by anger. 

She leaned close and whispered in his ear, “That was a onetime occurrence. Don’t expect any repeat performances.” Harry felt a slight stab of pain at her brushing off what they had so easily, but he had started them down this road so he would take it.

“I had hoped that we could go back to being friends, all stupid in the moment actions forgotten,” They said, after backing away from him. He looked them in the eyes for a moment, letting them stew in waiting for his response. It was his own petty way of getting back at them for their brush off a moment ago.

“Sounds good to me, lass. Uma and Gil have missed you.” They smirked at him without any warmth in the expression before leaving the restaurant, their purpose seemingly fulfilled.

^^^^

Percy waited until she was far enough away from anyone before she started running away. She was completely humiliated. Of course, Harry Hook hadn’t thought anything special of their kiss. He had probably kissed a dozen girls in their grade. He just felt awkward being around her knowing that it had meant more to her than it had to him.

She couldn’t believe that she had ever been talked into confessing her feelings. Shere Khan was right, emotions and the responses that came with it were for the weak. She would not be weak. Still, she could feel a tell-tale prickling behind her eyes that said otherwise. 

Percy refused to cry before she was away from everyone. Normally, she refused to cry at all, but it seemed that would not be an option today.

She wanted to go home to be alone, but if Shere Khan saw her now, she would be in massive trouble. The only place she could go was Hell Hall. Percy just hoped that they wouldn’t react too horribly to her show of vulnerability.

Percy made it to the door of the house and started banging. The unshed tears had started to blur her vision and she could barely make out anything around her. 

“Percy, what happened?” She heard from a vaguely Jay shaped blob. There was a Carlos shaped blob standing next to him, and she threw herself at both of them, wanting to be held by people who actually cared.

“Woah, careful, let’s get you up to my room,” Carlos soothed, rubbing a hand up and down her arm. The two boys led her up to Carlos’ room.

“I can’t believe I thought that I might matter to Harry Hook. Of course, I was just another girl to him,” She ranted, “Harry Hook is stupid, boys are stupid, and emotions are stupid.” The tears started to fall now. 

Percy wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. She had never been in a situation like this, but she felt an ache deep inside of her and she wanted it to go away.

“Hey, everything is going to be alright. If Harry Hook can’t see how wonderful you are, then screw him, but that doesn’t mean emotions are stupid. Don’t let one idiot ruin everything for you. One day you will find the perfect person for you,” Carlos comforted as Jay held her in his arms.

She felt an intense wave of affection for her two best friends. They were the two best people that she knew, and she could never thank them enough for being there for her. She knew without even having to ask them that they would never bring up her crying.

She calmed down after a while and the three of them ended up spending the rest of the afternoon talking about all of the mischief they had gotten into as little kids. A few hours after the Humiliation as Percy had dubbed it, and every thought of Harry Hook was out of her head.

The three friends stayed together in Carlos’ room for the rest of the day and well into the night, with them falling asleep in a heap on the floor together.


	8. This is Just Face Claims

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not an update, just face claims for my OCs and Shere Khan

Persephone 'Percy' Melinoe Khan

Lucretia 'Lucy' Salacia Finklestein

Shere Khan.


	9. Kisses Aren't A Big Deal

The next morning, Carlos woke up before Percy or Jay. He laid where he was stuck wrapped up between the two of them for half an hour, contemplating everything that had happened the previous day.

He had trouble believing that Jay had meant what he said. Jay was strong, tough, and handsome. He could have anyone he wanted. Why would he want weak, little Carlos de Vil? Percy he could understand, not himself. But, Jay had extolled Carlos’ numerous admirable qualities before Percy had arrived home.

They weren’t ready to start dating yet, at least not until they figured everything out with Percy.

Jay was the next awake and he learned the situation they were in the second he tried to sit up. Percy’s legs were splayed between the two of them and one of her arms was encircling Carlos’ waist. Neither of them could move without waking Percy.

He waited until he was sure that Jay was fully awake before speaking,

“What are we going to do about Percy?” Carlos had known for years that he was in love with his protector. It had taken him longer to realize with Jay, but there had been an initial interest from even before they became friends.

“We can’t say anything now. She’s not going to want to hear anything like this after what happened with Harry.” Carlos knew that, but he wished that they could say something now.

He had waited years for the kind of affection she offered Harry Hook, and he threw it back in her face.

There were some times where he felt like she might return his feelings, like when she sat him in her lap or grinned at him with this special glint in her eyes.

“We’ll just have to be there for her while she needs us. Anything more can happen later,” Carlos added to what Jay had said.

They were on the same page then. He had been hoping that Jay might have an idea of what to do, but the other boy had as few options as he did. They couldn’t tell Percy how they felt right after everything with Harry. Best case scenario, she freaked out and thought they were lying to make her feel better. Worst case scenario, she didn’t feel the same way, thought they were ridiculous for feeling that way and never spoke to them again. Carlos knew that it sounded overdramatic, but it was a worry that was twisting about in his head.

Percy and Jay were his best friends and he didn’t want to ruin that, yet they had always had a different relationship than other people on the Isle. It felt like it was all leading to them getting together. Almost like it was destiny. Ugh, even thinking about it sounded so Auradonian.

Percy stirred, raising her arms over her head and stretching out like the cat she was. Her cat ears were twitching as they tried to tune back into her surroundings. She yawned giving them a wide look at her extraordinarily sharp canines.

Carlos couldn’t believe that he had ever found her intimidating. She was adorable, like a kitten. Harry’s nickname was definitely accurate. Carlos scowled when the pirate popped up in his thoughts.

Percy had filled them in on everything that happened at the chip shop after she had calmed down. She and Harry had made up so they would be seeing a lot more of each other now. Carlos might have wished for this the day before, but now he didn’t want to see the boy who had been offered everything Carlos ever wanted and thrown it away.

“Morning,” Percy rasped. Her voice always sounded more tiger than human when she first woke up. Carlos theorized that Shere Khan being forced into human form when they were previously in tiger form had caused Percy to be more attuned to her inner tiger. The teeth and cat ears might be the only visible signs of what she was, but there were numerous others. She hissed when things surprised her, kneaded at her blankets before sleeping, and always managed to land on her feet no matter what she did both literally and figuratively.

^^^^

Lucy woke up at the crack of dawn as she did every day. She made Dr. Finklestein’s breakfast for him and left it in the kitchen before going back to the small room that had been given to her.

In the room sitting on her bed was a letter that had not been there when she left. She picked it up and saw that it was addressed to her from Auradon. Who in Auradon would want to talk to her?

Her curiosity was piqued so she carefully picked up the letter and opened it.

_Dear Lucretia,_

_I am unsure if you know who I am. My name is Sally Skellington formerly Finklestein. I’m your sister and I have spent the past four years trying to contact you. King Beast finally allowed me to send a magical letter through the barrier._

_I wanted to offer you a home with myself and my husband, Jack. We were hoping to adopt you if you were interested. The process may take a while as King Beast has to make sure that it won’t be a security risk, but the offer will stand no matter how much time passes._

_I know what growing up with Dr. Finklestein is like, and how harmful it can be on anyone. Even if you don’t want to be adopted, I would still like to keep up communication with you. It might be nice to talk to someone who understands. _

_This letter is enchanted so when you finish reading it, my words will disappear and you can write back. Whatever you write in the letter will disappear after a few minutes and reappear on a letter I have. This way we can keep up communication. Please write back whenever is convenient for you._

_Love,_

_Sally Skellington_

_P.S. Don’t worry about anyone being able to read it, only you and I can actually make out what the letters say. _

Lucy wasn’t sure how to feel. Someone was offering to give her a happy home far away from Dr. Finklestein. She might have a chance to live her life instead of the one that Dr. Finklestein created for her.

The only issue was that she would have to leave her friends behind on the Isle. No one deserved to be abandoned on the Isle. It was, she imagined, the worst place on Earth. Plus, her friends weren’t the most forgiving people, and they would probably hold a grudge about being left for the rest of their lives.

However, they had also taught her that she should look out for number one first and foremost. Therefore, it made sense for her to take such a wonderful offer. It would get her off this cursed rock and to a place where it seemed someone cared.

Lucy didn’t know what to feel for Sally. She knew that the woman was who the Doctor always compared her too, but she shouldn’t hold that against her. It wasn’t Sally’s fault that Lucy didn’t measure up. That didn’t mean that there was no bitterness there, just that Lucy knew that it was childish.

There was a brief moment where she considered the idea that it was a prank, but no one would have been able to get in and out of the house without her seeing them. Her room had no window and was connected to the kitchen since it had previously been the pantry. It could only have been delivered by magical means, which indicated that the letter was truthful.

Someone cared, Sally cared enough to want to adopt her and made King Beast send her a magical letter. She wanted to adopt her. Lucy felt like squealing in excitement, which is how she realized what she wanted to do.

She pulled out a pen and started writing a letter, telling Sally that she would love to be adopted. Lucy had a confidante and a sister now. She couldn’t remember being as excited about anything else as she was now.

Lucy knew that she could never tell her friends what she was planning. They might plot a way off the Isle to Auradon and cause all sorts of trouble that would ruin her shot at happiness. No, for once Lucy was going to be the selfish one and she would be keeping her small piece of joy to herself. They could find out right before she left.

^^^^

Uma had watched the fiasco that was Harry and Percy’s conversation the previous night. The sea witch knew and accepted that she was bad at dealing with her own feelings, but she felt that she should be given a medal for spectacular understanding and control compared to those two.

They both clearly liked each other and had enough of terrifying reputations to be able to deal with the odd rumor here or there about them. She thought that they would realize that it was stupid to avoid each other when they liked each other, then they would come together and confess.

They were both possessive enough to want to claim the other as there’s. She could imagine them hiding behind the cover of a physical relationship where both parties were the jealous type to keep others from knowing the truth. Relationships like that worked on the Isle.

Uma couldn’t have been more wrong. Harry hadn’t been able to be vulnerable with the teen, which had, in turn, put her on the defensive before she made a strategic retreat.

After he realized what happened, Harry started spiraling and Uma barely had been able to stop him from breaking into his father’s liquor. She was all for breaking the rules, but drinking his father’s liquor would be asking for a beating.

“She’s not interested in me Uma. She just wants to be friends and to forget about our kiss,” Harry bemoaned to her. She rolled her eyes. He had been talking about nothing else since last night. She liked Percy as much as the next person, but there was only so much you could hear about one person before you got annoyed.

Uma didn’t understand how Harry had missed the fact that he had pushed Percy away before the girl had said anything. Boys were so clueless sometimes. She was so glad wasn’t interested in boys. Uma couldn’t imagine having to constantly spell everything out for them.

She had been letting him rant for hours, barely paying him any attention as she worked while he followed her. Uma couldn’t take listening to it anymore.

“Did you ever think that maybe she was too proud to tell you how she felt after you talked to her like another one of the girls from school, brother dear?” There was a touch of bitterness in her words. She respected Percy and would have probably reacted the same way, if not a touch angrier if someone she cared about had brushed her off like that.

She and Harry might be half-siblings, but she had obviously inherited all of the brains. Captain Hook and Ursula had a one-time fling that resulted in Uma. Harry, CJ, and Harriet were all her half-siblings, though, the other three had the same mother. A female pirate named Milah who had run off when they were toddlers.

The two of them didn’t acknowledge their relation in front of people, including their friends, but when they were alone it was fair game to use in arguments. It wasn’t that they were embarrassed of each other, it was just that they didn’t want anyone to think that the only allies they could make were their siblings.

Harry always took her more seriously, when he remembered that she was blood so she hoped that she might be able to get through to him.

“I suppose there is a possibility that you might be right,” Harry mumbled so lowly that Uma almost couldn’t hear him. She smirked to herself.

“I’m sorry what was that?”

“I said that you might be right,” He shot back quickly without looking at her.

Harry was so oblivious when it came to his own love life. He didn’t know that he had been in love with Gil since the moment Harry forced his half-sister to let the boy join her crew. She had grown fond of Gil over the years as well, but even back in the sandbox, Harry had been making heart eyes at Gil. Then, he had noticed Percy at school and immediately been interested. He had moved to sit behind her and started pulling her pigtails which continued to this day.

She wasn’t sure when she would have to make Harry aware of his feelings for Gil. Uma thought that he probably needed to sort out this problem with Percy first.

This whole situation was upsetting Lucy, which was just more reason to help end it. Not that she would ever admit that she was doing anything nice to make someone else feel better. Ok, she was understanding why Harry had trouble admitting his feelings, it must be a family thing.

“Just tell her how you feel and apologize for what you said,” Uma ordered. Harry nodded and agreed, grudgingly.

He must really care if he was willing to apologize. Uma wasn’t sure that she had ever heard him apologize to anyone other than Gil. She might have to reevaluate what she thought of his relationship with Percy. He wasn’t just enamored with the shapeshifter, he was in love with her.

^^^^

Gil had been kicked out of the house for the afternoon once one of his father’s friends had shown up. She greeted his father with a kiss on the lips and they went to talk in his room. Gil knew that was his cue to leave.

He was reminded of Harry and Percy kissing and how his two friends had started avoiding each other, until last night. He thought that maybe he should start greeting all of his friends with a kiss to show them that it wasn’t that big of a deal. His father greeted all of his friends like that. Yes, perhaps him kissing them would stop any future mishaps.

When he walked into Ursula’s fish n’ chips, he only saw Uma and Harry. At least, he would be able to start out with one of the people who had freaked out.

“Hey guys,” He spoke cheerfully as he approached them before gently kissing Uma and then Harry. Both of them blinked and stared at him blankly for a moment.

“Why did you do that?” Uma asked him slowly. Harry’s cheeks had turned bright red and he didn’t seem to be able to speak. Gil was worried about his friend but figured it was just him being bashful since displays of affection seemed to bother him.

“Well, everyone freaked out over a kiss so I thought I would start showing you guys that it’s normal to greet your friends like that,” Gil explained. He was sure that after a while his friends would get used to it and be happy that he had taught them this lesson.

Uma opened her mouth to say something to him, but before she could, Harry elbowed her in the side and the two of them stared at each other for a minute. They were communicating nonverbally again. Gil always felt left out when they did that, he couldn’t understand what all of their looks and gestures meant.

They both let the conversation drop from there so Gil took it on himself to bring up a new topic. He talked for a few minutes about his walk over and the different things he saw. He mentioned how his older brother had decided to start experimenting with hair gel and it hadn’t ended well.

Uma had quickly lost interest in the conversation, but he could feel Harry continuing to stare at him, listening intently. It felt nice to have someone so focused on him. Harry didn’t always pay him this much attention. Gil hoped it didn’t mean that he was planning to do something to him.

Gil was in the middle of telling Harry that he had to leave his house when his father’s lady friend came over, when Jay, Carlos, and Percy came stumbling through the front doors. They were holding hands and laughing up a storm. Gil hadn’t seen Percy smile like that it weeks. He was glad to see that all of the sadness that had been plaguing his friend had disappeared. Making up with Harry must have really brightened her day.

Gil noticed Harry stiffen next to him when he saw the trio but wasn’t sure why. He thought that the two of them had made up last night. Gil would hate to have been wrong about that. It was hard enough for him to keep straight who they could and couldn’t associate with, without having one of his best friends be blacklisted.

Gil met the three of his friends halfway across the room and kissed each of them. They blinked up at him and stared in much the same way that Uma and Harry had.

“Uh, Gil, buddy, what was that?” Jay asked. His voice cracked slightly on the word that but Gil wouldn’t give him a hard time for it, his voice cracked sometimes too.

“Everyone has been acting like kissing is such a big deal and causing so many problems because of it, so I thought, I would show you guys that it’s normal for friends to kiss.” Gil really hoped someone else filled Lucy in because he was getting tired of repeating himself.

“Right,” Percy muttered with a dark tinge to her voice. She gave Gil a hug—he loved Percy’s hugs, they were warm and full of love, even if she would never say the words aloud—before marching across the restaurant to sit with Uma.

Gil walked back over with Carlos and Jay, who trailed behind Percy. Carlos sat on Percy’s lap and she started playing with his white curls, while Jay stood behind them with his arms wrapped around Percy and Carlos.

Gil saw Harry’s fists clench and him look away from their friends for a few minutes before composing himself and rejoining the conversation.

“What have you lot been up to while we were gone?” Percy asked, directing her question at Uma.

“Mal and I launched a prank war against each other. She claims she won, but I know otherwise.” The rest of the night passed in much the same way with them updating each other on their lives. Much had happened in a few short weeks and Gil wished that they would never be separated like that again. They had missed enough about each other in that time, he couldn’t imagine how much more could happen over a longer period.

Gil and the others all wondered where Lucy could be, as the redhead missed their weekly dinner. It had been a while since she had missed so they were all concerned but knew that if they went to Dr. Finklestein about it she would only be in more trouble. They decided to wait until school tomorrow to see if she showed before they jumped to any conclusions and caused more problems than they solved.

^^^^

In a hovel on the highest cliffside on the Isle, Lucy sat in her room, writing back to Sally, never noticing how much time passed by or that she had her weekly dinner. She was so caught up in getting to know her sister and learning about how her life would be after she was adopted. For the first time, she was hopeful about the future.


End file.
